Friday, 6 December 2013

TweetThat former UK
Prime Minister John Major is opposed to independence of Scotland is no surprise
to anyone.I was, however, a little
taken aback at part of the advice that he gave the Scots last week.Were Scotland to become independent within
the EU, he said “...she might regret the
loss of automatic British backing”.

It sounds as
though he really believes that the UK Government has in the past ‘automatically’
backed Scottish interests on each and every occasion.I guess that will come as a surprise to many
Scots.And there’s a parallel in Wales
where many, particularly in the agricultural community, feel that the UK’s
position in EU agricultural affairs has been one which tends to pay rather more
attention to the needs of large arable farmers in the south east of England
than to the needs of hill farmers in Wales.

But perhaps we
should be grateful to Major for drawing attention to one of the key issues
which the Scots will have to face in relation to the EU when they come to vote.Do they believe it better to have the
government of a small country focused on the needs of that country arguing
their case in Brussels, or would they prefer to leave the arguments to a larger
country, which has more clout, but which focuses on what it sees as being the
needs of that larger country, even if their position then runs counter to the
best interests of the smaller country?

I know which I’d
choose.A government focused on the
right issues is surely preferable.